Convention
for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic,
OSPAR
The 1992
OSPAR
Convention replaces the 1972 Oslo Convention and the 1974 Paris
Convention, but Decisions, Recommendations and all other agreements
adopted under those Conventions will continue to be applicable,
unaltered in their legal nature, unless they are terminated by new
measures adopted under the new Convention. Executive body of the
new 1992 OSPAR Convention is the OSPAR
Commission. See OSPAR information on Ministerial meetings, Contracting
Parties, Rules of Procedure, Strategies & Action Plan (see below),
Meetings and Documents, Publications, the Quality Status Report
(see below), etc. At
the 1998 Ministerial Meeting of the OSPAR Commission the Ministers
adopted the Sintra
Statement setting out the political impetus for future action
by the OSPAR Commission with a view to ensuring the protection of
the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic.

North-East
Atlantic Fisheries Convention
The Convention was adopted in 1959 and entered into force in 1963.
The objective of the Convention is to ensure the conservation of
the fish stocks and the rational exploitation of the fisheries of
the North-East Atlantic Ocean and adjacent waters. The
origins of the North East Atlantic
Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) lie in the former Permanent Commission,
founded in 1953 and formed under the 1946 Convention for the Regulation
of Meshes of Fishing Nets and the Size Limits of Fish. In the early
1960s it was considered that the Commission needed a wider range
of powers to regulate for the effects of the technological advances
in fishing methods. In 1963 the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission
(NEAFC) was formed under the North East Atlantic Fisheries Convention
to succeed the Permanent Commission. In addition to the powers of
the Permanent Commission, NEAFC could also establish closed fishing
areas and seasons, and regulate catch and fishing effort.

Arctic
Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS)Established in 1991 with the objectives:
- to protect the Arctic ecosystems, including humans;
- to provide for the protection, enhancement and restoration of
environmental quality and sustainable utilization of natural resources,
including their use by local populations and indigenous peoples
in the Arctic;
- to recognize and, to the extent possible, seek to accommodate
the traditional and cultural needs, values and practises of indigenous
peoples as determined by themselves, related to the protection of
the Arctic environment;
- to review regularly the state of the Arctic environment; to identify,
reduce and, as a final goal, eliminate pollution.

The
five programmes established under the AEPS are:

Arctic
Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP)
An international organization established to implement components
of the AEPS. AMAP has responsibilities to monitor the levels of, and
assess the effects of, anthropogenic pollutants in all compartments
of the Arctic environment, including humans. AMAP is now a programme
group of the Arctic Council, and its current objective is "providing
reliable and sufficient information on the status of, and threats
to, the Arctic environment, and providing scientific advice on actions
to be taken in order to support Arctic governments in their efforts
to take remedial and preventive actions relating to contaminants".
Here one finds information on the State of the Arctic Environment
Report (see below), as well as inforamtion on AMAP programmes and
projects, publications, maps, news and announcements, a directory
(with Arctic links) and much more

Conservation
of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF)The Program for the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna, under
the AEPS, was established to address the special needs of Arctic species
and their habitats in the rapidly developing Arctic region. CAFF has
responsibilities to facilitate the exchange of information and coordination
of research on species and habitats of Arctic flora and fauna.

Emergency
Prevention, Preparedness and Response
See Arctic Council EPPR
info

Regional Programme of Action for the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment from Land-Based activities (RPA)
Adopted in 1998 by the Arctic Council.

Sustainable
Development
The Working Group on Sustainable Development (SDWG)
was established by Arctic Ministers in 1998. The objective is to protect
and enhance the economies, culture and health of the inhabitants of
the Arctic, in an environmentally sustainable manner.

UNEP
Regional Seas ProgrammeThe Regional
Seas Programme was initiated in 1974 as a global programme implemented
through regional components. The Regional Seas Programme is UNEP's main
framework in the field of the coastal and marine environment. It includes
14 regions and three partner seas, involves more than 140 coastal states,
and focuses on sustainable development of coastal and marine areas. Each
regional action plan
is formulated according to the needs and priorities of the region as perceived
by the Governments concerned. Regional
conventions are in place for several areas. See a map
of all regional seas, and go to more information on the Black Sea, Wider
Caribbean, Mediterranean,
East Asian Seas, South Asian Seas, Eastern Africa, Kuwait Region, North
West Pacific, Red Sea And Gulf of Aden, South East Pacific, North East
Pacific, South
Pacific,Upper
South West Atlantic, andWest
and Central Africa. The UNEP Regional Seas web site also contains information
on What's at stake,
Major threats,
and Actions.

Research

Arctic
Climate Impact Assessment(ACIA)An international project organized under the auspices of the Arctic
Council to evaluate and synthesize knowledge on climate variability, climate
change, and increased ultraviolet radiation and their consequences.

Arctic
Environmental Impact Assessment(ARIA)The purpose
of the project is to develop Guidelines for EIA in the Arctic. A circumpolar
ad hoc group, whose task was to evaluate a proposal for an electronic
information system supporting arctic EIAs, has recommended that an electronic
network on the WWW should be established.

International
Arctic Science Committee,
IASCIASC is a non-governmental organisation to encourage and
facilitate co-operation in all aspects of Arctic research, in all countries
engaged in Arctic research and in all areas of the Arctic region. The
IASC member organisations are national science organisations covering all fields of Arctic research.

State
of the regional environment

AMAP's
Assessment: State of the Environment Report
During its inital phase of operation (1991-1996), AMAP designed and implemented
a monitoring programme and conducted its first assessment of the State
of the Arctic Environment with respect to pollution issues. A special
group (the AMAP Assessment Steering Group) was established to oversee
the preparation of the AMAP Assessment, which is based on input from several
hundreds of scientific experts. Two Assessment reports were produced to
present the results of the AMAP assessment firstly to decision makers
and the general public (the SOAER;
full text), and secondly to fully document the scientific basis for the
assessment (the AAR). This first AMAP Assessment was presented in 1997.

a global
environmental assessment process, the GEO Process, that is cross-sectoral
and participatory. It incorporates regional views and perceptions, and
builds consensus on priority issues and actions through dialogue among
policy-makers and scientists at regional and global levels.

GEO outputs,
in printed and electronic formats, including the GEO Report series.
This series makes periodic reviews of the state of the world's environment,
and provides guidance for decision-making processes such as the formulation
of environmental policies, action planning and resource allocation.
Other outputs include technical reports, a
web site and a publication for young people.

State
of the European Arctic EnvironmentThis report by the European Environment Agency gives a brief overview
of the environmental situation in the European Arctic. It presents the
main environmental challenges for the region, and recommendations for
policies and management.

UNEP-GEF-International
Waters:
Support to the National Plan of Action in the Russian Federation for
the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment from Anthropogenic Pollution
The
project will focus on pre-investment studies of identified priority
hot spots with known significant transboundary consequences. Additional
activities will include the necessary support in the development of
legal, institutional and economic measures.